Four ways students can ensure they are on the right path to becoming a desirable employee
Summer is around the corner, and what better time to build up your resume? As students, we constantly hear that we need to add value to our resumes, as it is getting more difficult and competitive to find jobs in our chosen fields. Here are four ways to ensure you are on the right path to becoming a desirable employee and standing out of the crowd from other job applicants.
Volunteer
I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Volunteering not only adds a tremendous amount of value to your resume, but it also adds a remarkable amount of value to yourself. Whether it’s volunteering at a homeless shelter or fundraising for a global initiative, it’s extremely important to give back and live your life with purpose. You will be surprised on how much you will learn from volunteering, and the bonus is you get to acquire volunteer hours while making a difference too! This is a win-win situation as you get to better yourself and work on your personal development while assisting others in need. You will gain valuable skills and experience while helping your community and making a positive difference. This also gives your future employer a chance to see what causes you’re passionate about, and makes you a well-rounded applicant.
Join or start a club
Whether this is a sports club, environment club, activities club, or art club – this is a great way to show your dedication and work ethic. This can be easily done through your educational institution or community centers. In the beginning of the year, most schools have a club day where you can go around and see what you’re interested in, or start your own club. If you start your own club or join one, it shows your commitment, and you’ll develop skills such as working with a team, communication skills, collaborating with others, learning your strengths and weaknesses, multitasking, and troubleshooting. For example, if your field is in environmental sciences and you start a green club, this is great experience on your resume for your future employer to see that you are passionate about the field and like to take initiative.
Internships
Internships whether paid or unpaid, local or global, are great opportunities to gain experience and discipline in the field you want to work in. They are a great networking tool to meet the right people and also gain respected mentors. The bonus is that you could be recruited or employed full time after your internship period. These opportunities of working for other companies are great resume builders and give you a huge advantage for future employment, and you will have a much better chance of being employed after graduation. This is a notable foot in the door to a company you might want to work at, and provides you real world experience of what your desired field really looks like. Also, an internship is a great opportunity for you to confirm if this is the field or line of work you want to be in.
Enroll in specialized courses
The summer provides you time to take up some courses that could really separate your resume from the rest. This is a great opportunity for you to polish up or gain new skills. For example, if you’re in the field of finance, taking up some advanced economic and accounting classes shows your future employer that you are really invested in gaining knowledge to better your career and future company. In order to be ahead of the game, you need to be acquiring these skills whether it’s taking spreadsheet classes or specialized marketing classes, to make sure your skill set is up to date so that you are a valuable asset to the team.
